The disgraced ex-Suffolk County police chief who botched the Gilgo Beach murder probe had plenty of skeletons in his closet — and once did federal prison time for beating up a crook who stole his dildo and porn stash.
James Burke, 59, who admitted he roughed up suspect Christopher Loeb in 2012 for snatching his sick stash of sex goodies, also had drug-addled trysts with hookers and once fled from a drunken wreck, according to court records and various reports.
Burke admitted that he brutalized Loeb, an admitted drug addict, and threatened to give him a lethal "hot dose" of heroin for stealing his sordid duffle back from a department-issued SUV.
That bag contained ammunition, a box of cigars, a dildo, sex toys and a collection of pornography.
"I will never feel safe after what you and your officers did to me," Loeb said in court at Burke's sentencing in 2016.
"I will never again feel comfortable living in Suffolk County, the place that I used to call home."
According to court papers from the case, federal prosecutors said Burke also kept a bar at his Long Island office that was open at all hours — and once fled from a drunken wreck in Suffolk County.
Internal affairs probes into Burke's conduct alleged that he had a sexual affair with at least one prostitute, including hooking up in his police car, WPIX11 said in a 2016 report.
Federal prosecutors noted in his sentencing memorandum that year that the disgraced chief "was the subject of a number of internal affairs investigations," including "a substantiated case" when he "consorted" with a known prostitute and drug user.
The fallen cop's name has resurfaced in the wake of last week's arrest of Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old Massapequa Park architect with Midtown offices, who was charged with the murder of three of the Gilgo Beach victims.
